Skeptics Books

Could the existence of psychic power have ground in scientific fact? "Parapsychology and the Skeptics: A Scientific Argument for the Existence of ESP" is exactly what it says it is. A scholarly written account arguing for the potential existence of this once instantly dismissed as myth concept, author and Oxford graduate Chris Carter tackles the arguments and looks at them objectively with wisdom. "Parapsychology and the Skeptics: A Scientific Argument for the Existence of ESP" is a deftly written piece, an ideal addition to any community library metaphysical studies collection.

What I enjoyed most when reading the book were the very helpful summaries that Carter provides of the relevant psychological, philosophical and scientific principles that need to be understood clearly, in order to have an intelligent opinion about paranormal phenomena. What on the surface appears to be "supernatural" is nevertheless experienced through the senses, as described by sincere and honest individuals. I myself have experienced such things. How is this possible? It's because there is indeed room in the science of the natural for these phenomena, when blinkers and prejudices are removed. However the masterful research that Carter has put into this book is clearly and interestingly explained; it never comes across as dry academia.

I recently finished a book about parapsychology myself, and I had planned to have a chapter at the end, addressing the fact the the results of the experiments I had written about were never generally accepted (at least not publicly). I quickly realized that the subject was a book in itself, and not a chapter. There isn't one reason, there are many reasons, and a lot of misinformation and rumor that has been repeated decade after decade that needed to be dispelled.

I read this book and was so happy because now I no longer had to figure out how to accomplish that, Chris Carter already has. He has done an excellent job of addressing every rumor and mistaken assumption one by one and making it accessible to the non-scientist. It's an interesting subject. As a non-scientist, and someone looking from the outside in, I had always assumed scientists were so rational. But of course they're human, aren't they? Carter's book is must read. Especially for open-minded scientists.

This is a book which will be very valuable to a lot of people interested in the scientific research which has been done on the subject.
It describes the whole saga that parapsychology has been through on a very clear way. Dogmatism, ignoring evidence, out-dated arguments, a bunch of dogmatic media skeptics, it becomes clear why parapsychology still has such a hard time to become accepted in the mainstream scientific world and this has very little to do with the amount of evidence which is out there.

Looking forward to the next in the series.

While writing on a book on yoga psychology, which included a section providing an overview of parapsychology research, I spent a considerable amount of time going through the skeptical literature. I had found Dean Radin's "Field Guide to Skeptics" particularly helpful. But I've never found anything as comprehensive and incisive as Chris Carter's "Parapsychology and the Skeptics."

For those sitting on the fence, Carter marshals a massive amount of evidence showing - for those willing to consider psi research with an open mind - that there is no doubt that psi phenomena have been found in laboratory experiments, and that such experiments have been successfully replicated.

Particularly helpful is the way Carter shows how skeptics misrepresent parapsychological research. Have you at times wondered, if parapsychological research is valid, why nobody has taken up the so-called "Million Dollar Challenge" of the "Amazing Randi"? I was quite surprised to discover in Carter's section on Randi that the "amazing" magician Mr. Randi set it up so he would never have to pay out. Carter quotes Randi as saying, in regard to the challenge, "I always have an out". You will find many other quite intriguing examples of the skeptics' tactics in Carter's book.

Despite some of these at times shocking revelations, Carter maintains an admirable clarity of mind, providing a fair, balanced treatment. Particularly helpful is his overview of quantum physics and its relevance to parapsychological theory. He does not make the mistake (as unfortunately was done by several scientists in "What the Bleep") of claiming that the findings of quantum physics "prove" psi phenomena, simply that they more flexibly allow for the possibility of telepathy, psychokinesis, etc than classical physics.

Finally, showing again his sympathy toward the skeptics he criticizes, Carter helps us to understand the motivation of the various skeptics. Given their wrong assumption that psi "violates" the laws of nature, it is understandable that they might go overboard in their misguided attempt to "protect" science from psi. Together with B. Alan Wallace (who, in his "Taboo of Subjectivity" provides an excellent account of the origins of psi skepticism both in ancient Greece and in certain aspects of Christian theology), Carter will help many understand why skeptics have been so vehement and irrational in their attempted defense of rationality.

Finally, one of the Amazon reviewers, in an otherwise positive review, made three comments that are worth looking at. She wondered why Carter focused mostly on experimental parapsychology and didn't make more mention of the difference between lab psi and "real-world" psi. In fact, he has an excellent chapter near the beginning of the book providing a summary of extremely interesting anecdotal evidence for psi. Regarding the reviewer's follow-up speculation that psi effects in the lab will never be as strong as those found in the real world, Carter doesn't address this, but look at Alan Wallace's "Samatha" project and consider whether individuals highly trained in contemplation may not surprise us all in terms of the kind of psi effects that might be demonstrated in the laboratory.

The reviewer also asked why Carter didn't mention unconscious fear of psi. I suspect this is actually a more powerful factor working in many skeptics than the desire to defend the scientific enterprise (philosopher Daniel Dennett has said - one hopes, in a whimsical mood - that he would commit suicide if psi were "proven" - someone should write to him and warn him about Carter's book!). However, if Carter had thought of mentioning this, I think he was wise not to. The few times I've brought this up to otherwise rational skeptics, they become vehemently irrational in their denial of the possibility that any kind of unconscious motivation - fear or otherwise - could possibly be relevant to their decidedly rational rejection of parapsychology.


Oh, I almost forgot to mention - the book's lots of fun to read.

As the author is quick to point out, an obvious characteristic of life is purposefulness. As living creatures, we all have a sense, either unconscious, conscious, or both, of purpose. But how does this purposefulness, or "Life-Urge" fit into how we view ourselves, from a religious point of view?

Carleton says there are four main ways in which people can do this. First, one can view oneself as "Me." That is, the sense of purpose is one's own purpose and no more. Second, one can view oneself as a living being among many living beings, all of whom have a sense of purpose. Third, one can view oneself as part of Life, which has a unified Purpose (basically, a Buddhist point of view). Fourth, one can view oneself as an entity whose purpose is secondary to what really counts, namely one or more Goddesses or Gods and Her, His, or Their Purpose. The author strongly prefers the second of these viewpoints, which he calls "prototheism."

This idea is contrasted with what today is practically a majority concept, namely the fourth point of view: ascribing the Life Urge to a single Deity. Of course, monotheistic religions today generally prescribe specific theologies, sets of beliefs, and practices to vast numbers of people. But Carleton shows that even now, there are alternatives for people who want more flexibilty, freedom, or privacy in their religious practices.

Still, all this is the icing on the cake. I left out decribing the cake, namely the initial chapters of the book. Here, Carleton starts with an excellent summary of the origin of Catholic Christianity (there are appendices that discuss Protestantism, Judaism, and Islam). He starts with the origin of the concept of deities, but adds that when one considers, say, fire to be a deity, it "closes out any attempt to learn the true nature of fire."

Given the tendency for origins to be viewed in religious ways, Carleton gives some more excellent summaries....of the way we view origins scientifically. In roughly sixty impressive pages, he covers the origin of our Universe, the origin of the Earth, the origin of life on Earth, the evolution of life to arrive at humans, and the origin of human society and of societal theistic beliefs (if you think all this is easy to write, you try it). After that, he speculates about the attributes of the conscious and unconscious parts of our thinking and responses, and how that has contributed to our sense of purpose and of religion.

So what is to be done about the fact that much of the world is monotheistic today? Carleton basically advises tolerance, not potentially risky and disruptive confrontation. Attitudes are changing. Let them. His recommendations are to move in a direction (towards prototheism) that he feels we are heading in anyway.

I recommend this book. Nobody is going to agree with every single point in it, but it has plenty for us all to think about.

This philosophy book details the quest for a believable narrative in light of contemporary science. Carleton has clearly done a fantastic job keeping up with recent scientific developments and uses this to critique the narrative of what we might call fundamental Protestantism. As a complement to this quest two books immediately jump to mind (both of which are in the bibliography) How We Believe : Science, Skepticism, and the Search for God (second edition) by Michael Shermer, and Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought by Pascal Boyer. This book follows the basic position taken in those two books.
In reading the bibliography to get an idea what the book offers I note that certain names I expect to find to address narrative construction issues I find most intriguing, that includes those names associated with the linguistic turn and the "prison house of language" are not in this bibliography. These include names such as Hegel, Wittgenstein and Rorty. This aspect central to postmodern narrative construction is not part of the approach.
As a result the book is interesting but the author misses something important. This is evident in the very description of the issues brought up. For example, Carleton explains he is an ex-Catholic and why. This strikes me as defining Carleton as a fundamentalist scientist doing philosophy. By chapter 4 this is even more convincing. Carleton is a scientific fundamentalist in the sense that he is applying contemporary science to revise the narratives from which we traditionally derive our values in much the same way that others have without the insights that come from the linguistic turn. This approach ignores the nature of language, language games, and narrative construction - I am thinking of examples such as Wittgenstein and Quine in this respect, though the whole movement from Hume through Kant and Hegel which sets up the linguistic turn are important. If Carleton would consider the nature of what he is constructing from the standpoint of language analysis and narrative construction, and so recognize "the prison house of language" within which he is working this would come to a better end. An excellent example of how this point would change the outcome concerns Carleton's use of the metaphor of the solar system and the geo-centered system as the typical icon of progress. Yet relativity gives us the view of both of these as mirror image models both useful in different contexts - they are different perspectives on the same thing, while Einstein gives us still another view, both earth and sun are traveling in a straight line while space is curved, and there are still others each of which are useful for certain purposes. The paradigm of relativity when applied across the board, especially when it comes to knowledge and what can be known, would lead to a more successful narrative I think. An example of a scientist that does do this is Stuart Kauffman. (See Investigations by Stuart A. Kauffman) This is important since remaining a skeptic strikes me as a very uncomfortable place to be - I think of Hegel's description of the "unhappy consciousness" in this regard. Einstein and Godel both viewed things from their paradigm in a way that led to better things. (See Incompleteness by Rebecca Goldstein for a wonderful description of this.) This is a good book and leads to an avid desire that the investigations continue!

Paul Carleton's Concepts analyses history, physics, biology, psychology and economics. At bottom, however, Concepts is about a single philosophical question: how does a skeptic, turned off by the traditional God, find meaning in life? Indeed, how does s/he find a "religion" in the best senses of that word?

Concepts is the result of an intellectual quest on which Carleton embarked when he retired from his business career. It's difficult to imagine a more worthy retirement project. The fruits of his labor can be summed up as follows: "Where does religion come from ... [i]f not from 'out there' [i.e., heaven]? ... My hunch is that it's our own Life Urge which is the sine qua non of all Life and which emerges spontaneously in all Life ... [I]f what's worshipped as 'God' is in fact our own Life Urge, could our 'Life Urge' be the basis of a new or revised religion?"

Indeed, it could -- and it is wonderful to see people who are turned off by traditional faiths look for alternatives, rather than simply proclaiming themselves "atheists" and kissing religion goodbye. As I read this book, however, I wondered why Carleton spent relatively little time addressing other alternatives already available to the skeptic. For example, Spinoza's philosophy posits a "conatus" inside every natural form that strives to persist in its own being, and extols a God devoid of all supernatural substance that encompasses the eternal and infinite in nature. Those who wish to follow in Carleton's footsteps and create religious alternatives of their own are advised to consider carefully the work of Spinoza and other heretical philosophers before starting from scratch. We all should value many types of wheels, but nobody should feel the need to reinvent the concept.

This unusual book advocates a science of religion, "Prototheism." The author is careful to point out that he is not advocating Prototheism as a new religion, but as the SCIENCE of religion, a subtle but important distinction. Prototheism does not rely on on extant God, but instead puts all its marbles on a "Life Urge" that inhabits all living things - a living thing being any complex collection of molecules above RNA. Unlike religions, Prototheism is amenable to changes in its tenets in response to new discoveries in science.

From page 184: "Life initially emerged from Earth's matter nearly four-billion years ago as molecules randomly rearranged themselves to better withstand adversity. Other molecules adopted the practice and elaborated on it, passing their ever more complex and elegant arrangements on to other macromolecules - they replicated. What was a reaction became a PROaction, a way-of-life, a Life Urge...as this Urge to Life experienced ever greater adversity, it found ever more elegant solutions - synergistic arrangements of complex structures...as nervous systems became more elaborate they became brains and finally brains became reflexive - consciousness emerged. All Life is innately aware of its Life Urge else it wouldn't be alive...we conscious humans can not only revel in Life but can choose to help carry Life's evolution forward."

The fallacy with this lies in how to scientifically identify the "Life Urge." Without that, Prototheism has nothing to study. The author presents supporting literature from brain studies but they do not impress me as "hard data." Dennett's (Darwin's Dangerous Idea) coined term "sky hooks" describes the tendency to ascribe to God that which cannot (as yet) be explained otherwise, that eludes explanation - a "God of the Gaps." The author relied on religion for a large part of his life and then abandoned it. Rather than searching externally for God, Carleton now looks internally to the "Life Urge." I would question the need to look at all - there are many other explanations (Boyer's "Religion Explained," Atran's "In Gods We Trust"). Among other things, whether a non-religious individual perceives an unfilled void depends on his/her personality and on the role religion played in his early life.

The author is a former Catholic with a rather rigid Jesuit upbringing during the last parts of the depression. In his adult life an "epiphany" or two caused him to leave his leadership role in his church. He is an engineer with an MBA and has always been interested in science. In his retirement he embarked on a more extensive study of science resulting in this book. In Prototheism, he postulates that an innate Urge to Life has always been misinterpreted by humans as an external God which doesn't exist. He is not unduly unkind to religions, and suggests to any non-fundamentalists (realising he is never going to be successful with fundamentalists of any sort) how his idea of a SCIENCE of religion might appeal to them regardless of their current affiliation - including those of Jewish or Islam faith. The closest religion to his liking appears to be Universal Unitarianism, except that it has no "overarching doctrine." His excerpt about their belief system does seem to match his ethical thoughts.

With that out of the way, might I say a few words about how truly impressive this book is. The first half is devoted to some of the best summaries of large disciplines of study I have ever read. The bibliography and his frequent personal comments reveal the untold hours of research, rewrites, and care that went into trying to make clear these difficult concepts. These are 1) a synthesis of early Christianity 2) cosmology and quantum physics 3) life's beginnings 4) animal evolution 5) human evolution 6) brain development & consciousness. He appears to be completely mainstream, with the possible exception that 1) He seems to accept group selection 2) He relies on "synergy" as the core of the Life Urge, but is not convincing 3) He suggests a tentative mechanism for ESP.

In addition to 254 pages of text, there are 106 pages of "Notes," very conveniently arranged, extensively documenting his sources and providing additional information in a talkative format. I looked forward to these sections and read each one after finishing the corresponding chapter. The "Life Urge" is partially referenced to other authors, although "prototheism" is entirely his own.

This can be a challenging read in spots for the scientific novice but well worth the effort. I frequently saw him leading up to a given topic and eagerly anticipated how he was going to develop it - his many autobiographical inserts adding flavor. The undertaking of this book was an obvious labor of love and I commend the author for such a well thought out and presented result.

An enthusiastic 5 stars!!

If you are breaking down the walls of a dogma-ridden religious indoctrination and want a guide and traveling companion as you explore the terrain outside the boundaries, you may find Concepts a useful tool for your journey. Carleton's friendly, personal writing style, and his use of anecdotes from his own life to illustrate points he is crafting, makes reading fairly easy for such a heady and comprehensive topic. Although I didn't always agree with the author's assumptions or conclusions, I found many of his arguments thought provoking. He obviously loves his subject and has given it a great deal of thought. If your touchstone is science, and you like reading that is weighted toward the intellectual, you may find many useful jewels in this wide-ranging exploration.

gives hope to us atheists and agnostics. shows that, unlike dawkins, we are not all angry and intolerant

David Cortesi writes in plain language for everyone, without condescending to anyone. He discusses how a non-religious person can get all the spiritual, emotional, social and psychological benefits of religion, without sacrificing a single neuron of intelligence, education or critical thinking.

He is completly critical of every religious tradition, but also open-mindedly sympathetic to all kinds of spirituality. He has searched for what "they" have, and how they get it. But he has not accepted an ounce of new-age hokeyness. He has kept his analytical mind active throughout.

He considers how a person can believe that the universe is purposeless and basically accidental, while still believing that one's own life has meaning. He discusses ways to create community, meditative or contemplative practices, meaningful rituals, ethics, happiness and contentment. He discusses death and self-transcendence and the bliss experience.

If you have no religion, or if you are losing your faith, read this book soon. It's full of good advice. It's consistently understated and about as brief as possible (Cortesi is a computer programmer), so you might have to consider his points carefully. It's honest and deeply thoughtful, intelligent and respectful of its audience. Highly recommended.

David Cortesi's premise is that the benefits of traditional religions are available to non-religious people if they're given the tools to reframe these benefits in secular terms. Cortesi proves capable of delivering on his generous but ambitious agenda. He's smart enough to sort through contending philosophies, honest enough to admit his biases, and grounded enough to not lose his way among the murky ambiguities of existence.

He starts by exploring religion's payoffs. First and foremost, religion provides answers to those two bedeviling questions: who am I and why am I here? You also get ritual practices that orient you in time and space, a ready-made community of like-minded people, and a pre-assembled ethical structure. Religion gives you tools for dealing with life's pitfalls and pratfalls, and ways to cope with your passage out of here. Religious believers get to feel the kind of contented bliss that's been missing since those golden days when it was just the infant you and an attentive caregiver placing a nipple between your lips. Finally, the lucky few occasionally plug in to states of ecstatic transcendence.

Sounds attractive, but there's a catch. To get the benefits, you have to buy in to the whole agenda, and most of these agendas weren't designed with you in mind. Some of them have in fact caused immense suffering and distress over many centuries. Cortesi shows us how to construct beliefs and practices that provide the same emotional and psychological support as religion without forcing us to park our common sense at the door or sally forth to smite infidels who happen to believe in a different godlike character.

His method is to research, then summarize the major issues we must deal with to construct a meaningful life. He's fair to all religious traditions and approaches each of life's big topics in an even-handed, pragmatic manner. Among other things, we learn ways of coping with the fact we're a random accident in the universe, how people actually achieve mystical bliss, and what it means to be happy. He gives practical advice on skills such as creating your own set of rituals, helping people who are grieving, and building up the psychological arsenal you'll need in order to be content. In an appendix, he lists further readings for those who want to delve deeper into any of these questions.

Cortesi is no Augustine, wrestling with great sins on the way to becoming a great saint. He has modest regrets (he wishes he'd devoted more effort to being part of a community) and isn't trying to attain every grand spirtitual aspiration (for instance, he questions whether the efforts to achieve bliss, are, practically speaking, worth the results). In the end, he delivers what he promised, showing us that it's quite possible to live a meaningful, spiritually fullfilled life without surrending yourself to a religious tradition. Cortesi has done us all a great service by writing this book, and everyone, whether secular or religious, should find something of value in its pages.

This book is a well researched and thoughtfully written guide to living a fulfilling nonreligious life. In the first chapter the author outlines some of the benefits that religion offers; existential validity, community, contemplation and tranquility, ritual, mystical ecstasy, self transcendence, ethical structure, and comfort in death. In the remaining chapters of the book he examines how these benefits can be derived in a nontheistic context.
Each chapter could easily have been a book in its own right but what really works in this book is its broad overview and concise organization. It gives the reader a great starting overview for the issues presented. The author does give many references for further reading and thought on each topic. For this reason I would especially recommend it as a starting point to someone who feels they can't embrace belief in the supernatural or reject science but is concerned that their life would be lacking without a religious component. I would also recommend it to those who have trouble believing that someone who doesn't believe in a deity or religion could be a moral and ethical person. The chapter on the development of an ethical basis and personal/family code was one of my favorites.
I did want to add something from my own experience on finding community. The author gives a lot of practical advice but refrains from mentioning specific groups in the book. I think this was the right approach since each person's path and beliefs may differ. I personally found many friends and community through an American Humanist affiliate group and the Unitarian Universalist church. I'm not specifically endorsing any particular groups for others but just wanted to point out that there are lots of opportunities out there, some others are Brights, Pantheists, Secular Coalition, Free Thinkers, Secular Humanists, another reviewer mentioned Friends of Reason, etc...So do some research and you should be able to find a community of people of like minded beliefs, you are not alone.

This small book at last addresses in a simple way the key elements of a rich life that anyone can understand. While being very practical there is enough hard evidence to show that Cortesi's views are soundly based.
I especially recommend the chapter on happiness.
Buy it. Read it.

A lovely memoir of the quest for inner peace.
As English professor and secular Jew Weimer (Back Talk: Teaching Lost Selves to Speak, 1994) sits paralyzed by fear during a bumpy plane ride, she begins to feel a mysterious calming presence. Though she's not sure how to interpret the experience, she's certain that she shouldn't tell her husband, David, a devout atheist. Instead, she confides in a friend, who matter-of-factly states " 'Sounds like you met the Black Madonna.' " Intrigued by her friend's comment, the author seeks to learn more about this embodiment of sacred maternal power. As she and David travel to Europe for a sabbatical, Weimer realizes that she desires to understand not only the Black Madonna, but also her late mother, with whom she shared a complex relationship. While David remains hostile to her sudden interest in prayer, she manages to transform the sabbatical into a spiritual quest, navigating a labyrinth in Ravenna, meandering alone through picturesque villages, sitting in chapels devoted to the Madonna and studying complicated texts about sacred sites. When the trip ends, Weimer continues her spiritual journey. Back at home, she attends a one-day "Walking Meditation" retreat, held at a local Episcopal church and led by a female rabbi, who teaches about female representations of the divine in Judaism and Islam. A final, shorter trip to Paris culminates in a general sense of ease and contentment. Throughout, the author demonstrates solid observation skills and a sharp eye for detail, as well as a skillful hand at metaphorical language. When she and her husband depart for foreign countries, they find that they discover each other anew, "with the same attention and wonder that we bring to a Gothic cathedral-craning our necks to admire the vaulted ceiling, descending into the crypt to stand on its ancient stones."
An enjoyable sojourn into feminine spirituality.
-Kirkus Discoveries

Joan Weimer's journey begins with a heart-stopping airplane plunge, then takes her to some of the most famous mystical sites of Europe--sacred labyrinths and shrines of the mysterious Black Madonna--and brings her back home again, to her everyday work and everyday life. These are the external dimensions, the physical map, of her pilgrimage. Inwardly, the journey is even more complex: a dramatic movement from the isolating alienation of Weimar's self-confessed skepticism through a radical questioning that, like the labyrinths she walks, takes her into a new understanding of her own profoundly spiritual self. It includes, as well, a clearer comprehension of her mother's dark and painful rejection that turns, in the end, into a paradoxical and powerful recognition of acceptance.

I first met Joan Weimer through her fine memoir, BACK TALK (a selection of the Story Circle Network's Reading Circle), in which the story of her physical pain and disability is interleaved with the story of Constance Fenimore Woolson, a nineteenth-century American expatriate who committed suicide in Venice. It is a richly imagined, novelistic memoir enriched by Weimer's scholarship and creatively enlivened by her refusal to be defined by that scholarship. Awestruck strikes some of the same notes and chords in a similar melodic structure, except that it is a two-part invention, since the author's husband, David, actively participates in her quest, sometimes encouraging, sometimes resisting her growing insights and awareness of herself. Fellow travelers, we learn, do not always take the same paths.

The immediacy and urgency of Weimer's journey is emphasized through her use of the present tense and her often poetically-charged language. The mausoleum of Galla Placidia, she writes, is a beautiful place:

"...but it's not what I want to see right now. Never mind, we're going there anyway. We're swept up in a sluggish river of tourists, channeled between barriers, packed together so tightly it's impossible to go against the flow. We wash ashore at the mausoleum, where we find the tiny space so packed that we can see only a few inches of the mosaics over people's heads." (p.78)

But it's not just that the language is powerfully metaphoric. The journey is, too, which is nowhere as clear as in the chapter on labyrinths, "Walking a Winding Path." As with any long journey (Weimer and her husband were traveling through several European countries), she often finds herself wishing for a more direct route, as she traces her laborious way to the center and back out again: "In and out, journey and arrival, it's all one path..."(p.75)

Some readers may find the poetic imagery of this carefully crafted memoir occasionally overwhelming, and be distracted by the nagging question: But did it really happen this way, with all of these coincidences and synchronicities? For myself, I would put the question differently. How much of this journey actually happened in physical space and time, and how much of it happens in the mind, in the creative and recreative memory, in the process of writing? Reflection, as Weimer muses over and over, gives us the power to frame and reframe our experience, so that the story of any journey is as much about storying as it is about journeying. Personally, I found myself wishing that Weimer had turned her memoir into a novel, so that concerns about truth could be redirected from real experience to creative imagination.

That said, I read with a deep pleasure to the end and closed the book feeling that I have taken the journey with her as she walks the labyrinths and searches for the Black Madonna through the shadow figure of her own mother. It is a compelling and worthwhile journey.

Susan Wittig Albert is the author of WRITING FROM LIFE: TELLING YOUR SOUL'S STORY and the founder of the Story Circle Network, a non-profit organization that encourages women to write about their lives. This review is excerpted from a longer review published on the website of the Story Circle Network.

Do all roads lead to God? Perhaps, for the dedicated seeker. Some roads are short and direct, such as traditional Judaism and Christianity. Others are long and indirect, like the ancient labyrinths, requiring greater energy and determination.

In Awestruck, Joan Weimer candidly discusses her own winding spiritual journey. Put off by the masculine God in traditional Judaism, she is intrigued by the images of the Black Madonna throughout Europe. Perhaps the Madonna represents the personal, loving and feminine side of God, neglected by traditional religions?

At the end of the book, we are uncertain if Joan is at the end of her pilgrim's road. Has she stopped with a distant God, as so many have done? Or is she continuing to pursue a personal relationship with God, perhaps through a modified Judaism? Clearly a sequel is required!

What a thrilling spell this book weaves! Joan Weimer's story about her quest to understand why she - a Jewish skeptic - was suddenly possessed by images of a dark madonna turns into an archetypal story for us all. In it we advance into our own inner labyrinth and discover the meaning of the true-life mazes that pilgrims have walked since time immemorial. A shrewd, clear-eyed, brilliant account of one woman's quest to understand the force understand the force that took hold of her late in life, and the surprising revelations that she won from her willingness to pursue the mysteries to their source. I read it with tremendous delight.

Bonnie Friedman, author of Writing Past Dark and The Thief of Happiness

"A dazzling exploration of love between generations and between partners, and a daring intellectual foray by a splendid writer.
Seeking to understand the profound attraction of Europe's Black Madonnas, Joan Weimer travels back to the tangled roots of pagan,
Christian and Jewish spirituality. Her journey is both geographic and spiritual, scholarly and sensual, and finally unforgettable."

Mary Felstiner, Professor of History, San Francisco State University. Author of /Out of Joint: A Private & Public Story of Arthritis /and /To Paint Her Life: Charlotte Salomon in the Nazi Era

The authors use the framework of the Apostles' Creed to provide a helpful description of the Christian story and some of it's implications for the way we might live today.

This book is an especially good first step for those who are becoming disillusioned with an exclusively "head-based" evangelical perspective on faith. (IE - Christianity is about holding the right ideas.) It offers a simple invitation to begin to "try on" the idea that doubt is an essential part of faith.

Per James Pond's review (below), the authors clearly wrestle with these questions in the context of orthodox Christianity, and do not engage with a larger, global perspective on Spirituality.

I am one of the skeptics this book was written for. I also happen to be a Christian. The authors of this book not only understand, but promote, the idea that the two can coexist. As they quote from Dostoyevsky: "Sometimes the greatest act of faith is in the doubting."

What a gift it is to go on this 30-day journey with people who readiily acknowledge how fragile faith can often feel. Larson and Mitchell are refreshingly honest about their own doubts and questions, which is probably why so much of it resonates with me. They actually encourage us to be skeptics, in the healthiest sense of the word, leaving room for the mystery that is God. If you're looking for answers, look elsewhere. If you're open to the value of living with questions, you will probably appreciate, as I did, what this book has to offer. An excellent choice for devotional reading and meditation, regardless of where you are in your journey.

I found this book to be a wonderful tool to share with friends who are asking questions about God and looking for something to help them along. I like the conversational approach, the 30 day format, the way it breaks down the Apostle's Creed and helps the reader understand what it is all about. I have given numerous copies to friends who are at various places in their spiritual journey, some just starting out, others further along, and all have remarked that this book was very helpful to them.

What a great little book! The authors take the time to explore spiritual questions, rather than simply rushing to answers; and each writes with a humor, honesty and humility that I enjoyed and appreciated.

The daily readings are refreshing and challenging - providing a unique and interesting mix of scripture, creed and thoughts on faith. I used the book as devotional reading and have returned several times to chapters like "What About When Doubt Overshadows Belief?" and "Will Life Ever Be the Way It's Supposed to Be?"

I'm grateful to have this book - and have already given copies to friends

After reading A Place for Skeptics...I could have entitled it "A Place for my Friends and I". All my life I have heard the Apostles Creed, and this book helped me to take the next step in understanding my faith and belief in God. More than that, this book has been a helpful tool for me to give to friends as they try to understand their own beliefs in God, and how those beliefs make it into their everyday lives.

A Place for Skeptics is an excellent resource for making the bridge between God...Religion...and your everyday common life. It invites you to explore the reality that God does bring Real Answers to Real Life.....

I pick up this book because it was along others (the art of war, guerrilla marketing, negotiating to yes, what color is your parachute, 21 laws of marketing, one minute manager) in a list of top bussiness books, it talks about attitude wich is a difficult concept and it comes all right. I like the part where he talks about self confidence: most books would lay down some method, this guy tells you to earn it, that you cant fool yourself so if you want to feel better you have to make something.

Inventive, insightful, instructive, inspiring and funny. Filling the Glass is a surprisingly effective and effecting book. One minute you're laughing out loud, the next you're nodding your head in agreement, the next you just have to pause to let a powerful point sink in. As the author acknowledges, many of the strategies are novel and few are familiar, things we know to be true but which we probably haven't really made part of our lives yet. As promised, he provides great new insights even into the familiar strategies and, more importantly, practical tips for incorporating them into your career and/or your life.

Having seen Maher speak, I picked up a copy of Filling the Glass as soon as I heard about it. Reading the book is even better than hearing him in person, because it lasts longer. I couldn't recommend the book more highly. Rich practical knowledge, a world of insight, fascinating and entertaining anecdotes, it's even extremely funny. It's certainly the only business book I've ever read with a conclusion that actually brought tears to my eyes. Wonderful!

Barry Maher has written an exceptional book, one filled to the brim with ideas on how to live up to your potetial, reach your goals, and, perhaps most important, enjoy your career. Take even a sip of his suggestions to heart, and you'll change your life.

Filling the Glass : The Skeptic's Guide to Positive Thinking in Business is an excellent book. The authors holds the view that it is essential to hold a realistic view of a situation to act as a launching point for improvement. Positive thinking is useful when it is bounded by reality.

Filling the Glass makes a very useful arguments for which when looked at in aggregate amount to managing yourself, managing those you work with and managing customers. The author, Barry Maher, lays out the program I mentioned above using the following topics:

Make peace with the negatives
Fill the glass
Become your own guru
Add water
Bring out the prospect in yourself
Become an expert witness
Fail toward success
Brag out the negatives
Change the scale to make the sale
Never settle for success

The author has a thought provoking style and has some really awesome quotes. If your current self help guru has you only visualizing a full glass then Barry can help you take action to actually fill the glass.

How can we effectively evangelize non-Christians in a postmodern age?

How are postmodern people coming to Christ?

What lessons can we learn from their spiritual journeys that might help us as we work to fulfill the Great Commission?

In I Once Was Lost: What Postmodern Skeptics Taughts us about Their Path to Jesus (IVP, 2008), Don Everts and Doug Schaupp draw on their many years of experience in ministry to postmoderns in order to help answer these questions and more. I Once Was Lost is a book born out of evangelistic efforts in a postmodern setting.

Throughout their ministry among postmoderns, the authors began noticing certain common experiences among their friends' journeys to faith. These experiences led them to some conclusions about evangelism to postmodern people.

Using the Parable of the Growing Seed (Mark 4:26-27) as a foundational guide, the authors describe the postmodern journey to faith as both mysterious and organic. Conversion is mysterious in that it comes only from God:

"There is something spiritually liberating when we admit and declare what is beyond us and where we are powerless. We cannot create life. It is impossible for us to predict why some of our friends will choose Jesus and why others just won't. We don't know how to change hearts... This lesson has freed us from the modern temptation to view conversion as mostly a psychological phenomenon, an inner event that can be controlled and manipulated and triggered if we preach the gospel just right..." (19)

Liberated by the mystery of saving faith, the authors conclude that "the monkey is off our back, and onto God's back, where it belongs. The Scriptures teach us that God is ultimately in control of salvation." (19) God's sovereignty forms the foundation of conversion, but that does not keep the authors from seeking to evangelize effectively. Instead, it lends a certain humility in their efforts.

I Once Was Lost is less a prescription for evangelism to postmoderns as it is a description of how effective evangelism is taking place in certain circles. The authors see five thresholds in the postmodern journey to faith:

From distrust to trust. (Somewhere along the line, they learned to trust a Christian.)

From complacent to curious. (They become curious regarding the Christian faith of their new friend.)

From being closed to change to being open to change in their life. (The hardest threshold to cross.)

From meandering to seeking. (At this stage, they begin actively, purposefully seeking God.)

The Kingdom itself. (Trusting in Christ for salvation and confessing him as Lord.)

The authors then devote a chapter to unpacking each of these thresholds and showing the theological and biblical underpinnings for each one. The first threshold is rooted in the incarnation of Jesus. Jesus came and became one of us. The authors warn, however, that In our "incarnational" evangelism, we should not succumb to relativism by pretending that all religions are the same.

The second threshold takes place when the non-Christian begins to see the transforming power of Jesus in the life of the believer. Seeing someone follow Jesus naturally leads to the "Why" question and moves the non-Christian from complacency to curiosity. The authors give practical advice in stoking this God-given curiosity (ask good questions and tell parables). One minor quibble here: The authors wrongly interpret Mark 4 regarding the purpose of Jesus' parables [55], but that aside, they put forth many good ideas for evangelism at this stage in the process.

In threshold three, we are encouraged to give non-Christians the gift of space and permission to explore. The authors believe that moving from being closed to change to open to change is the most difficult step to take. That's why they encourage fervent prayer during this stage (73).

In their zeal for helping people "explore" Christianity, however, the authors put forth the idea that Christianity is one option among many to be "tried." I don't like the terminology they use of "giving God a trial run" (71). Such terminology fits fine in our capitalistic, consumerist culture, but not in the biblical worldview of the God who rightfully claims our lives.

Christians should practice "nonjudgmental truthfulness," and "gentle honesty" at this stage (75). How can one engage in this type of dialogue? By taking a conversation deeper. One example the authors give hardly seems like a "deeper" conversation:

"We all need help to get by. We might get our fix at Starbucks, at a party or on the Internet. But we all need a fix. I find my fix in God. What do you think about a spiritual hook-up?" (76)

But despite the trivial, street-talk given in the examples, the authors are right to assert that "sometimes the most loving thing we can do for someone is not to beat around the bush in conversations, but instead to just call them out on how they are afraid to change" (78). They go further in saying, "We underestimate the importance of our role in speaking words of challenge. If you tend to be that way, please don't let your own comfort level guide how much you speak the truth in love, or you may never get around to it" (81). Bold, but helpful advice indeed.

Once the non-Christian reaches threshold four and begins to be more active in their pursuit of God, the authors recommend that Bible study take centerstage. At this stage, "people do not need to know what you think about Jesus near as much as they need to know what the Gospels say about Jesus" (98). I appreciate the centrality of Scripture that forms the heart of this section of the book.

The authors recommend a sense of urgency at the "kingdom" threshold. It is here that Christians should press the claims of Christ upon their friends, encouraging public commitment to Christ upon personal conversion.

I Once Was Lost is a short book that contains a great amount of helpful material for those interested in engaging a postmodern world with the gospel of Christ. I was pleasantly surprised at the emphasis on Scripture, the encouragement to gently confront, and the reliance on the Holy Spirit's power in seeking to effectively evangelize others. Despite a few weak spots, the book contains much to be commended and deserves a wide audience. I Once Was Lost makes me want to roll up my sleeves and get to work as a more passionate evangelist in this postmodern age.

Everts and Schaupp help the reader become sensitive to the typical stages college students move through when they become Christians.

This book would be particularly helpful for those who work with college students or want to better understand college students--as it describes the pressures, thought processes, and friendship dynamics of this age group.

It would also be helpful for those who ask the question, "Does anyone today convert to Christianity as a thinking adult?" Indeed they do. Everts and Schaupp try to find patterns in the journeys of the people they have observed moving through this process.

They identify Trusting a Christian, Becoming Curious, Opening Up to Change, Seeking After God, Entering the Kingdom and Living in the Kingdom as key "thresholds" that people move through.

The book is nice and concise (134 pages) and reads quickly. Everts and Schaupp are not trying to make an argument that these are the thresholds all Christians need to work through. Rather it is sociological or anthropological work--similar to the famous Kubler-Ross stages of loss (denial, anger, acceptance, etc.) or Christian Smith finding the phenomenon of "moralistic therapeutic deism" in teens.

Everts and Schaupp essentially share their experiences and then ask if this resonates with others. This is not to denigrate their experiences--they have done a significant amount of interviews and they are in as good a position as anyone with their experience in college ministry with InterVarsity to make these kind of observations. Does their model have explanatory power? I think it does.

If they are right that college students (and perhaps teenagers and adults as well--who knows?) that become Christians, move through these thresholds well, what are the implications for how college ministry and church ministry should change if they want to see more people become Christians? The unmissable point is that these students who have moved through these thresholds certainly did not do so because of one event or program. Someone needed to listen to them, give them advice, challenge them and encourage them. Though Everts and Schaupp sketch a process, they explode the idea that some specially designed program would be able to mass-produce followers of Jesus. This book is much more about how to do spiritual direction than how to do evangelistic programming.

The book does not contain much formal theological language. In my quick reading, I do not remember a reference for example to the Holy Spirit or to baptism. Their goal is not to reflect theologically on conversion. Similarly they do not engage developmental psychology or other sociological research and draw parallels between that research and their conclusions. An academic researcher would want to do interviews with a representative sample of people who became Christians in college to test Everts and Schaupp's tentative conclusions.

One final note, the book has in its subtitle the controversial word "postmodern"--What Postmodern Skeptics Taught Us About Their Path to Jesus. I would simply say that this word plays almost no role in the book. It is not a book that views postmodernity positively nor one that views postmodernity negatively. The book describes students at colleges in California and Colorado in the last twenty years--that is all the authors mean by "postmodern."

In conclusion, I would highly recommend the book as insightful, brief, hopeful and stimulating. College students will be loved better by people who read this book.

An absolute must read book for ministry leaders who want to better understand the process it will take for postmodern people to come to Christ. When I was a teenager, I went through Evangelism Explosion training at my church. Yet Evangelism Explosion doesn't resonate with people today, and unless we try to understand the 21st century mindset of post Christian people, our outdated evangelism efforts will continue to frustrate us. This is a very good book, a quick and very simple and easy to understand read about understanding how to relate and reach postmoderns for Christ

Don & Doug,

thank you and IVCF for this resource. With all the postmodern stuff out there I found this book extremely helpful. I appreciate you guys not entering into the whole postmodern church deal and just sticking to ministering to people. The 5 threshholds were helpful with subpoints for each of them.

thank you for your honesty and for listening to your community and to God about turning your experiences into a resource.

I was a little worried about the book's approach when it stated it that there are five stages a pre-christian goes through before understanding what it takes to make a commitment to Jesus (as in, "Oh no, not another formula..."). But as I read I saw these stages as not being so much "steps to peace with God" but more like "steps to understanding the journey they are on". It is a book that snaps everything into place in your head if you have ever tried to unsuccessfully (or successfully) lead someone to Jesus. You will say, "Oh, that's why that person reacted the way they did!". Many times we operate on a different level than people are on. Too many times we are too eager to dump all of our knowledge and training on someone who is asking for just a little understanding. Other times people are ready to make the commitment but we are not seeing it and we let the opportunity pass. This book helps you to discern where people are in their quest for Christ as well as letting you know you are not the only one who screws up the evangelism adventure. A must read!

In these times, any book that encourages free-spirited inquiry is especially welcome. It's inherently true of James Sanford's Great Freethinkers, a commonplace book on free thought that is, so far as I can tell, without precedent or equal in recent decades. With so many unaware of the significance of skepticism and free thought in human history and especially within the American experience, the appearance of such an anthology is not just opportune. It offers an essential corrective, at a time when the spiteful, destructive influence of misshapen religious ideologies is increasing both here and abroad.

The people quoted in the work were discerning thinkers who questioned dogmas of any kind, be they social, political, or religious. Agnostics, atheists, non-conformists, skeptics, unconventional theists, and advocates of religious freedom, to cover just some of the categories of belief represented, they have achieved their own kind of immortality in this useful anthology.

Some of them-- John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Benjamin Franklin, for example--are most certainly not forgotten. Yet they are nevertheless poorly understood in a culture in which virtually every candidate for major office vaguely casts himself or herself as a Christian--while providing no real insight about what that means.

Others, like the accomplished essayist and Randolph Bourne and the unmatched Republican orator Robert G. Ingersoll, have been utterly and undeservedly neglected. These men were intellectual giants in their time, and timeless in their insights, and Sanford has done us a service by making it possible to become (re)acquainted with them.

It's crucial, too, to remember that freethinkers went beyond the realm of philosophy, furthering human freedom and enlightenment in the arts, humanities, politics, and the sciences. Those whose wise insights are collected here include Arendt, Bourne, Darwin, Delacroix, Dewey, Du Bois, Edison, Einstein, Mencken, Shaw, Spencer, Twain, Whitman.

Should they read it, those inclined to simplistically condemn free inquiry as "atheism" will be surprised to encounter a complexity and variety of thought on such subjects as God, the soul, virtue, self-knowledge, human nature, death, evolution, freedom, and more. For those who consider themselves free thinkers, the book will serve as a reminder that they are in excellent company.

This selection of quotes deserves a spot by the beside where it can be taken up occasionally. A quote a night would be a good way to handle the book, much as one could do with Bartlett's Quotations. There is food for thought and amusement in these carefully selected quotations on the most serious of subjects, from sex to religion.

Conformist thought has its needed critics and you will find them all, and their words of inspiration, in "Great Free Thinkers". I found the section on religion especially meaningful, when religion so sadly seems to becoming a thing of unexamined doctrine, as opposed to inspired spirituality. Making waves in the face of oppression and meanness is all our responsibility and this good book introduces us to those who have done it with great grace and influence in the past.

"Great Freethinkers" is a treasure trove, a buffet of pithy quotations on all the things that matter--religion, ethics, love, war, sex, human nature, and much more. The selections prod, poke, nudge and challenge the reader to shake off ideas grown stale. Some selections will be illuminating, while others may infuriate, all of which serves the book's main goal: awakened consciousness and fresh thought. They comprise an astonishing range of writers and thinkers, from the Chinese sage Hsun Tzu, the Muslim philosopher Averroes, and the Roman Lucretius, to Thomas Paine, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Frederick Douglass, and Albert Einstein. These short selections are appetizers: to delve deeper into the argument, one need only read more of the source.

In these times, any book that encourages free-spirited inquiry is especially welcome. It's inherently true of James Sanford's Great Freethinkers, a commonplace book on free thought that is, so far as I can tell, without precedent or equal in recent decades. With so many unaware of the significance of skepticism and free thought in human history and especially within the American experience, the appearance of such an anthology is not just opportune. It offers an essential corrective, at a time when the spiteful, destructive influence of misshapen religious ideologies is increasing both here and abroad.

The people quoted in the work were discerning thinkers who questioned dogmas of any kind, be they social, political, or religious. Agnostics, atheists, non-conformists, skeptics, unconventional theists, and advocates of religious freedom, to cover just some of the categories of belief represented, they have achieved their own kind of immortality in this useful anthology.

Some of them-- John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Benjamin Franklin, for example--are most certainly not forgotten. Yet they are nevertheless poorly understood in a culture in which virtually every candidate for major office vaguely casts himself or herself as a Christian--while providing no real insight about what that means.

Others, like the accomplished essayist and Randolph Bourne and the unmatched Republican orator Robert G. Ingersoll, have been utterly and undeservedly neglected. These men were intellectual giants in their time, and timeless in their insights, and Sanford has done us a service by making it possible to become (re)acquainted with them.

It's crucial, too, to remember that freethinkers went beyond the realm of philosophy, furthering human freedom and enlightenment in the arts, humanities, politics, and the sciences. Those whose wise insights are collected here include Arendt, Bourne, Darwin, Delacroix, Dewey, Du Bois, Edison, Einstein, Mencken, Shaw, Spencer, Twain, Whitman.

Should they read it, those inclined to simplistically condemn free inquiry as "atheism" will be surprised to encounter a complexity and variety of thought on such subjects as God, the soul, virtue, self-knowledge, human nature, death, evolution, freedom, and more. For those who consider themselves free thinkers, the book will serve as a reminder that they are in excellent company.

Readers will find valuable information in The Healthy Skeptic. The research is thorough. The writing is reader-friendly.

I want to encourage a healthy lifestyle for my family, but it is difficult with all the changing data from the news media, web sites, etc. This is a good book to help you make informed decisions on a variety of health care issues. I suggest reading it to help you come to your own decisions about what is the best choice to make for your lifestyle.

Robert Davis has given us a good wake up call here. He reminds us how easy it is to get complacent in our lifestyle, going from diet to diet, falling prey to the latest fad health tips. "The Healthy Skeptic" doles out a good dose of common sense, backed up by a book-full of reminders to check out the research behind what we think is good advice - those "health" claims may not be supported by anything more than the air it took the promoters to utter their words aloud. A good read!

Finally a book that isn't afraid to take on the drug makers and public interest groups who (guess what?) don't always have our best interests at heart. From cholesterol drugs to sunscreen, this book will save you 10 times its cost by telling you what health info is really worth paying attention to--and what isn't. Smart, great read.

This book has been passed around the family and we bought an extra copy for our local library. In these days of overblown health stories that offer too much, it's nice to have Robert Davis sane and smart advice keeping us readers anchored.

Never has the bible been made to look more foolish than to actually tell (and draw) some of it's most gruesome stories in children's book format. Every Sunday school class should be forced to share these stories with kids, and see how many christians we end up with in a generation or so! Each story is followed up with analysis of both the story itself and typical christian apologist explanations for it.

This book is both extremely entertaining and informative. It's a refreshing change from other atheists books, in that the author simply recounts a story of the bible in his own words, and includes some awesome illustrations to bring the story to life. The cover says it all; while some people may be able to skim over or sugarcoat the story of Elisah and the children-eating bears, when you actually see a picture of it the story takes on a whole new meaning, and it becomes much more difficult to discount and reconcile. If the cover made you laugh, trust me, there's more where that came from!

Anyone who's ever wandered into a doctors office or dentists office as a child or with a child will be instantly familiar with those 'illustrated stories from the bible' books that show children the wonders of god by telling all the "good" stories from the "good book" with exciting pictures and paintings.

This book is the perfect antidote to such books. In fact, I know a few doctors and dentists who might end up finding a copy of this book "mysteriously appear" in their office...

The shear genius of this book cannot be praised enough. The idea here is simple: Make a book that takes some of the most idiotic, brutal, sexist, racist, and moronic stories that are contained in the bible and tell those stories with artist renderings and modern language and then provide a commentary on those stories that includes chapter and verse quotes and the Christian "reasoning" for the brutality, murder and rape that their god has seen fit to include in the Bible.

The end result is a book that showcases the shear ignorance of many theists out there as to just what exactly is contained in "the good book." For every good story, there are countless others that can only be described as EVIL.

This book is not perfect, but it's damned close.

The illustrations, while funny and brutally honest to the writings of the bible are mostly black and white sketches, so there are no glorious renderings in oil of the 70,000 people slaughtered by God in the Books of Samuel and Chronicles. This is a pity because the mental image of a glorious oil painting of 70,000 rotting corpses laying on the ground under god's out-stretched hand leaves me giddy with school-boyish joy.

The author has an obvious bias and lets it leak into the examination of the stories outlined in the illustrations, and his commentary on those stories often includes word-for-word redundancy. Meaning that, in many cases, the author tells the story two or three times... It can be a little off-putting to read the same story three times in the space of three paragraphs.

Aside from these minor issues, this books a glorious addition to any agnostic or atheist book collection. I know that if/when I have children of my own, this will be the first book I use with them when the subject of religion and god comes up.

Laying down his riffs like the red, burning hail of a fomenting heavy-metal maelstrom, Farrell french-kisses the soft parts of the bible like a rabbinical Ace Frehley on a mission - to inform. Classy pictures WILL NOT DISAPPOINT.

Once upon a time, when Yahweh's nice Spokesman, Elisha, was about to enter Bethel, a gaggle of 42 children laughed at him and jeered at his bald head. So Elisha, in righteous indignation, called on his god to inflict appropriate punishment on the perpetrators of such irreverence. Yahweh promptly summoned two bears, and the bears mauled the 42 children to death.
Since the obvious moral of that exemplary tale was, "You don't mess with Yahweh's Spokesmen